


Scars and Venom

by JustThatObsession



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Acromantulas, Angst, Blood, Bonding, Draco Malfoy Is Emotionally Imcompetent, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Titles, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mainly Hurt, Oneshot, POV Draco Malfoy, Whump, not so much fluff, rated T for violence and a bit of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-22 22:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16606901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustThatObsession/pseuds/JustThatObsession
Summary: Draco hadn’t hoped for his eighth year in Hogwarts to go remotely well. He had already accepted that wouldn’t like him. Even his fellow Slytherins gave him a dirty look from time-to-time. He started making sure to cover up the dark mark that had been left on his arm, even after the Dark Lord had perished. A permanent reminder of his mistakes. Lately, he had found it harder to concentrate in class. It had been a few months since the trial yet he still couldn’t get the way Potter had argued against him being sent to Azkaban out of his head. If it wasn’t for the golden boy he’d probably be locked in a cell right next to his father.---AKA Draco gets attacked by an acromantula and refuses to go to the infirmary, meaning Harry has to be the one to take care of him.





	Scars and Venom

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a fic for Harry Potter, so I hope it isn't too OOC.

Draco hadn’t hoped for his eighth year in Hogwarts to go remotely well. He had already accepted that wouldn’t like him. Even his fellow Slytherins gave him a dirty look from time-to-time. He started making sure to cover up the dark mark that had been left on his arm, even after the Dark Lord had perished. A permanent reminder of his mistakes. Lately, he had found it harder to concentrate in class. It had been a few months since the trial yet he still couldn’t get the way Potter had argued against him being sent to Azkaban out of his head. If it wasn’t for the golden boy he’d probably be locked in a cell right next to his father.

Draco shook his head. He didn’t want to think about that. He turned his attention back to the homework in front of him. His quill remained unmoving in his hand. The dying fire next to him spit out a few sparks before fading into a dull red glow coming from the centre of the pit. It was incredibly late, meaning no one else was in the common room. They were all fast asleep in their dorms. Draco would have liked to blame his inability to sleep on Gregory’s snoring but the truth was that he had suffered from yet another nightmare. They were becoming much too common for his tastes.

The sound of light footsteps and hushed voices pulled Draco from his thoughts. A pair of second years emerged from the staircase leading into the dorms.

“Are you sure we should do this?” One asked her friend as the two approached the exit.

“Of course, they said it’ll be fun.” The other replied.

Neither of them seemed to notice Draco. He followed them with his eyes until they opened up the passageway leading to the outside and climbed through. Despite it not being any of his business, Draco felt the sudden urge to follow the girls. Ever since he had come back to school he had felt responsible for the younger grades, besides, sneaking around Hogwarts in the dead of night never ended well. He learned that the hard way.

After waiting for about thirty seconds, Draco climbed through the passageway just in time to see a bright light disappearing around the corner. He followed closely behind, weaving in and out of the narrow halls until they finally emerged into the cool air of the outdoors. He stayed back, allowing himself to be concealed by the shadows. The two Slytherins approached a couple of other figures standing by a line of trees. Draco recognized those trees. His stomach twisted itself into a knot.

“It’s called the forbidden forest for a reason!” They were talking loudly enough that Draco could hear them from that far away.

One of the other students adjusted his red and gold tie and shrugged. “I doubt it’s that dangerous.”

His friend nodded and flashed her perfectly white teeth in a wicked smile. “Why don’t you go in first?” She said. “Unless you’re too scared.”

“We’re not scared,” One of the Slytherins replied. “C’mon, Mary. We’ll show ‘em” The girl grabbed the other by the hand and pulled her closer to the trees. The two Gryffindors snickered.

Draco burst from his hiding place, quickly closing the distance between him and the students. The two Slytherins had already disappeared into the forest, the Gryffindors reeled around at the sound of Draco’s footsteps. They both glanced at each other before scurrying away into the night. Draco wasn’t fast enough to stop them

He wanted to go after them, but the forbidden forest was dangerous and he couldn’t let anything get in the way of him finding the Slytherins. He sighed in frustration. The other houses had started picking on Slytherins much more than usual after the war. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. Draco just hoped the two were alright. Swallowing the last bit of nervousness that had begun to build in his throat, Draco stepped into the woods.

It was dark and foggy and Draco could barely see his own wand in front of his face. “ _Lumos_ ” He muttered. The pale light caused the trees to cast long, winding shadows across the ground. The only sound that could be heard was Draco’s own footsteps, every twig snapped and leaf crunched beneath his feet caused him to wince in fear of alerting something to his presence.

A shrill scream broke the silence and Draco found himself picking up his pace, sprinting toward the source of the noise. His heart pounded painfully against his ribs, cold sweat dripped down his face as he reached a small clearing. The two girls stood side by side, one of them was grasping the other tightly as the two stared with wide eyes at the other side of the clearing. Draco followed their line of sight. His own eyes landed on the creature that had them frozen in fear. It was a massive spider, it’s hairy legs scuttled quietly against the ground as it approached them. Venom dripped from it’s gnashing pincers.

One of the Slytherins pulled out her wand, her hand shook as she aimed it at the creature. That seemed to only set it off because it lunged at her and her friend. Draco barely had enough time to put himself between them and the creature. There was a sickening crack as the spider drove one of its legs into Draco’s arm, causing intense pain to shoot all the way up to his shoulder. Another leg slammed into Draco’s stomach, causing him to fall to the ground. Something sharp pierced his shoulder and the world spun. Draco was unsure if the screaming he heard was coming from him or if it was just another part of the symphony of ringing that invaded his ears.

There was a flash of red light and Draco could feel the air leave his lungs. He struggled to breathe but every breath was accompanied by agony. His vision swam and turned blurry, the world around him faded in and out of focus. Draco managed to draw in one last breath before everything went black.

He woke up to the sound of someone shouting his name. He recognized the voice and he desperately hoped he was having some sort of nightmare.

“Draco!” Potter shouted as the Slytherin groaned.

Everything hurt. He exhaled sharply as he rose to a sitting position. His ribs creaked in protest.

“Are you okay?” Potter asked, “can you walk?”

“M’fine,” Draco mentally scolded himself for mumbling. He put his hand on the ground to support himself in standing up, but the pain that shot through his arm and shoulder was enough to bring tears to his eyes. He blinked them away quickly and stumbled to his feet. He lurched forward, his head coming dangerously close to the ground before Potter caught him.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’,” Potter said. He shifted Draco so that he could support him at his side. Draco was much too weak to protest when Potter wrapped his arm around his shoulder and began walking.

“You were lucky,” Potter said after a long time silent. “If those Gryffindors hadn’t-”

“It was their fault,” Draco made an effort to speak clearly, despite the fog that had settled over his mind. “They convinced a couple of Slytherins to…” He trailed off. His eyelids drooped for a second and his surrounds fell black. He quickly startled back into consciousness.

“We better hurry up and get you to Madame Pomfrey, eh?” Potter asked. Concern seeped into his tone.

Draco’s stomach dropped. “I’m not- don’t take me… I’m fine.”

Potter raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Shut up,” Draco spat. “I can fix this myself.”

“I highly doubt that,” Potter replied, training his eyes ahead of him. “But if you don’t want to see Pomfrey, where would you like me to take you?”

Draco bit the inside of his lip. His entire body still throbbed and the fact that he couldn’t move his right arm was worrying too say the least. But going to the infirmary would make everything worse. His skin itched at the thought of all the questions that could arise from one simple visit. “Dungeons.” He forced the word through a sudden wave of agony. He stumbled over a root. Potter wrapped his arms even tighter around him and Draco hissed at the way his ribs throbbed.

“Ah,” Potter said, loosening his grip. “Are you sure you want to go to the dungeons? They don’t exactly seem like the type of place to heal a giant spider bite.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Draco was breathing heavily, the short walk towards the school had taken a lot out of him. Relief washed over him as they stepped through the doors. He was able to quicken his pace once they were walking across the flat stone floor.

The stairs were the hardest. Each step further into the dungeon was met with a jab of pain in his chest. Despite that, Draco refused Potter’s offer to carry him down the steps. There was a limit to how much embarrassment he could endure at the Golden Boy’s hands.

“There we go!” Potter said as he allowed Draco to collapse painfully into one of the nearby chairs. They had found a potions classroom that was, thankfully, unlocked.

Draco’s shirt had become sticky with the warm blood oozing out of the bite on his shoulder. “You can leave now.” He said, ignoring the way Potter’s face fell at the words.

“Like hell I am,” Potter replied. “I’m not leaving you to deal with this on your own.”

Draco squeezed his eyes closed as he forced himself to breathe. “I really need you to leave, Potter.” His shoulder felt like it was burning and Draco was fairly sure the effects of the venom were about to kick in.

Potter sighed. “Harry.”

“What?”

“Just call me Harry,” Potter said.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Do you remember the potions lesson about creating acromantula antivenom?”

Harry nodded.

“You didn’t fail it? Did you?” Draco eyed Harry nervously. If even one ingredient was used incorrectly he could end up dead within seconds.

“Of course not!” Harry cried with indignance.

Draco shrugged. He quickly regretted it as the action sent stabs of pain throughout his body. “Just grab the ingredients, I’ll make the potion.”

Harry cast a glance at Draco’s right arm, which lay limply at his side. “No, you won’t. Is that broken?”

“I doubt it,” Draco lied. He was fairly sure the arm was broken. The memory of the snapping sound as the spider attacked him made him feel sick. He was starting to get dizzy. Whether it was from the blood loss or the venom, he wasn’t sure. “Hurry it up, will you?”

Harry was already throwing the ingredients into a cauldron. He gave it a quick stir before pouring the cauldron’s contents into a glass bottle. The liquid was a sickly green colour and sloshed around the glassware unexcitedly. “It needs to be applied directly to the wound.”

“I know,” Draco hissed. He pushed himself out of the chair so he could snatch the bottle out of Harry’s hands. His entire body felt like it was overheating. Sweat dripped down his face and into his eyes as he struggled to sit back down. He grasped the edge of his shirt, glancing up at Harry before looking back down at the antivenom. “Look away.”

“I didn’t take you as the insecure type,” Harry laughed. His shit-eating grin quickly turned into a frown when he saw Draco’s expression. “Yeah, uh, sure.”

Draco waited until Harry had turned around before he pulled the shirt over his head. The wound stung when it came into contact with the cold dungeon air. He used a scowl to mask his discomfort. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the potion in his working hand. He wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. It wasn’t so much the bite that was bothering him, more so the fact that Harry could turn around any second and see the scars that littered his body. Every possible iteration of “Traitor” and “Fool” slashed into his skin. Seeing the raised lines forced Draco’s mind to bring up the painful memories of Bellatrix's knife dancing across his body, forever marring his pale skin.

The antivenom didn’t soothe the bite as he expected. Draco cried out at the burning sensation that flooded his senses when the potion came into contact with the wound. The sound made Harry twirl around, his green eyes widening as they fell onto Draco’s body. Draco froze, the burning of the antivenom died down but he still felt like he was on fire. His cheeks burned red with embarrassment under Harry’s scrutinizing gaze.

“I told you to look away,” Draco growled. Harry didn’t seem to be listening, he ran his hand through his hair, making it even more of a mess than before.

The silence was suffocating. Draco had never been happier than when Harry finally decided to speak. “Who- who did this to you?”

Draco blanched. He had never expected Harry to show this much concern for him. “It doesn’t matter.” He swallowed back the lump in his throat and willed the tears forming in his eyes to go away.

Harry inhaled a shaky breath. “It’s none of my business. Regardless, I need to get you to Pomfrey so she can stop your bleeding and fix your arm.”

“No!” He shouted, the large breath of air he took afterwards caused his ribs to throb. “You’ve already seen… I can’t…” His voice shook with every word. He was coming dangerously close to crying.

“You’re kidding, right?” Harry asked, his face twisting into a glower. “You’re willing to risk bleeding out in a bloody potions classroom just because you don’t want the nurse to see a few scars?”

“Enough people hate me already,” Draco snarled. “I don’t need their pity as well.”

“Are you hearing yourself?” Harry yelled. Draco had to stop himself from flinching at the harsh tone. “Is it really this hard for you ask for help when you clearly need it?”

“That’s rich coming from you!” Draco retorted. “As if the chosen one knows what it feels like to be fucking alone!”

Something changed in Harry’s expression. Any concern left in his expression was quickly replaced by a cold anger. “You know what?” Harry spat. His voice was almost as venomous as the acromantula. “I don’t bloody care what you did to get those scars. A self-centred bastard like you deserves them.”

Draco felt himself go rigid. His eyes stung and his breath caught in his throat. He inhaled sharply but the air didn’t seem to make it into his lungs. His whole body shook as he desperately tried to keep the tears from spilling.

“Fuck- Draco…” Harry muttered under his breath. “I-I didn’t mean it I-”

“Don’t touch me!” Draco weakly batted away Harry’s outstretched hand. He pushed himself up from his seat and managed to take a single step forward before the room began to spin around him. He lost his balance and went careening into a nearby table. His head slammed into the corner and he barely had enough time to realize how much he had fucked up before he fell into unconsciousness.

He woke up on a bed, the constant throbbing of his injuries had disappeared leaving behind only unpleasant memories. Draco rubbed his eyes and glanced around the room. Seeing that he was in the infirmary should have filled him with dread but instead, Draco only felt relief. He pulled himself into a sitting position and glanced around the room.

“Draco!”

The Slytherin jumped at the sound of Harry’s voice. Despite the smile on his face, Harry looked terrible. He had dark circles under his bloodshot eyes and if Draco didn’t know any better he would’ve thought he’d been crying.

“What are you doing here?” Draco asked, blinking away the sudden drowsiness that overtook him.

“What am I-” A mirthless laugh escaped Harry’s lips. “I was worried about you.”

“Worried?” The word left a strange taste in Draco’s mouth.

“Yeah, I was worried!” Harry exclaimed. “Turns out I care about you or something.”

“Huh,” the corners of Draco’s lips began to tug upwards.

Harry grinned. He gave Draco a playful punch in the shoulder. “Don’t do that again, alright?”

“Yeah, sure,” Draco replied.

And for the first time since donning the dark mark, he smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I might write a part two if I ever have time.
> 
> My Tumblr is [@JustThatObsession](https://www.justthatobsession.tumblr.com) if you wanna give me a follow!


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